Maputo, 18 Jan (AIM) – Mozambique’s National Roads Administration (ANE) on Saturday warned motorists against trying to enter or leave Maputo along the country’s main north-south highway (EN1).
The torrential rains that have been pummelling southern Mozambique have swollen the Incomati river, which burst its banks and inundated about four kilometres of EN1 between Incoluane and the 3rd February administrative post, in Maputo province.
The ANE Deputy General Director, Miguel Coanai, cited by the independent television station STV, said it was now impossible to drive between Maputo and the rest of the country.
“We are continuing to monitor the conditions”, he said. “In the coming period, we shall assess our bridges and aqueducts to check whether any of them have been undermined or need some intervention to ensure their integrity”.
As of late Saturday morning, hundreds of vehicles were trapped in Magul, in Gaza province, in a queue that extended for two kilometres. The flood on the Incomati made it impossible for them to move in either direction along EN1.
Passengers who had risked catching buses now found they had nowhere to spend the night other than on board the vehicles.
The Incomati has also cut the road between the towns of Magude and Xinavane. The Magude district administrator, Mariana Copane, said that two accommodation centres have been opened in Magude town to shelter people displaced by the floods.
She added that the authorities are mobilising helicopters to rescue people besieged by the rising waters in various parts of the province.
The floods have damaged the normal operations of water supply supply systems in Maputo and Gaza. The water systems in Boane, in Maputo province, and at Chokwe, in Gaza, are completely out of service, while the water treatment station on the Umbeluzi river, which supplies most of the drinking water for Maputo and Matola cities, has been forced to reduce its production by 30 per cent.
The authorities are urging the public to reduce their water consumption and use water rationally,
(AIM)
Pf/ (341)
